God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so 
that we might have eternal life through him. This is real his Son as a 
sacrifice to take away our sins. (1 John 4:9-10 NLT)

  Nearly every parent has either said it or thought it: "You do something to 
hurt me, it's forgivable, just don't hurt my kid!"

  I will never forget when our first child was born. I was not prepared for 
the incredible and new type of love that flooded my soul. Here was a human 
being that I did not yet really know and who would not be able to respond 
back to me emotionally for several weeks, yet I loved him with an 
overwhelming and protective love. It was a different kind of love than I had 
ever known. The power of this love, its pervasive pull across all of my 
life, was astounding.

  My love for our son deepened and widened as he began to respond to my 
efforts to speak with him, to comfort him, to giggle with him, and to 
reassure him. Several years later, when our daughter came along, I had as 
much love to share with her as I had to share with our firstborn.  That 
protective love for my kids wasn't diminished because there was another one 
to love. Instead, that protective love was strengthened. I would give them 
anything within my ability. I would do anything I could that was for their 
good. I would do everything I could to make their lives better for them. 
Most of all, I would do anything, or take on anyone, to protect them.

  I believe this God-created, protective love for our children is part of 
what makes the story of Golgotha so powerful. Yes, on one level, a story of 
the crucifixion of a Jewish carpenter doesn't have much to stir us. (1 
Corinthians 1:21-2:4) On another level, however, when that Jewish Carpenter 
is God's Son, something reaches out and appeals to us that is beyond 
intellect or emotion. Something overwhelming happens to those who understand 
the protective power of parental love. It is the primal parental tug on our 
heart: "Do to me what you must, just don't hurt my kid!"

  Something in the Father's agony at the Cross speaks to us. His ability to 
withhold his protective fury from his Son's accusers, mockers, attackers, 
and butchers reaches us at a soul level that is deeper than words. The 
distance between our ability to protect our kids and God's ability to 
protect his Son is expansive. Withholding his power to protect his boy, 
while allowing his torturous death to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins, 
wins our heart. Something inside us knows that we can only stand in awe of 
such love. Something inside that love wins us at the soul level. We become 
his children, too, bought by a grace beyond us. As the old hymn When I 
Survey the Wondrous Cross concludes, "Love so amazing, so divine, demands my 
soul, my life, my all!"

  ---------

    (c) 2005 Phil Ware All rights reserved.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------